Tag: law

civil society

Australia and the secret sauce of western civilisation?

Historian Niall Ferguson, in his Civilization: The West and the Rest, notes that: “For 500 years the West patented six killer applications that set it apart. The first to download them was Japan. Over the last century, one Asian country after another has downloaded these killer apps — competition, modern science, the rule of law and private property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society and … Continue reading Australia and the secret sauce of western civilisation?

Kate Carruthers3 Comments
future, ideas

Filesharing: copyright has always been a bit broken but we never noticed

I was chatting to someone at a party on Saturday night about copyright. The gentleman I was chatting with was strongly in favour of strict enforcement of copyright. He was advocating fining people who share copyright material online. It got me thinking. Once you consider the problem in offline terms it seems that many of the problems of copyright content have been with us since … Continue reading Filesharing: copyright has always been a bit broken but we never noticed

Kate Carruthers3 Comments
future, ideas

Ownership, new ideas and openness

We see much discussion of the openness and collaborative nature of the web 2.0 world. However, many of the challenges facing us as a result of this new world relate to ownership of virtual goods. There are longstanding conventions that enable us to sort out who owns property in the real world and some of the traditional principles of property rights include: control of the … Continue reading Ownership, new ideas and openness

Kate Carruthers
future, ideas

Digital citizens need real world knowledge too

It was fascinating to be at the inaugural Digital Citizens event in Sydney last week – the topic was: Private Parts: Personality and Disclosure – Finding a Balance in the Digital Space. There was a great line up on the panel with visiting US lawyer and social media specialist Adrian Dayton (Social Media for Lawyers), Sam North (Ogilvy PR), Damian Damjanovski (BMF), and Renai LeMay … Continue reading Digital citizens need real world knowledge too

Kate Carruthers8 Comments